Made with highly breathable Gore-Tex® XCR™ fabric, this short, light, and sprightly jacket offers close-fitting coverage for backpacking, and it passes Gore’s Engineered for Extreme Wet Weather® rainwear test. Cut hip-length to minimize weight, the Cabrio 2 can be teamed with high-waisted pants, or bib pants if full storm coverage is needed. This shorter cut also means the Cabrio 2 is best matched with shorter fleece jackets (or simply hike up your longer fleeces).

One really can’t beat this jacket for all round use and value for money. I have used it all seasons from true artic conditions of –40 with a good windchill of –50 to +30 in the rain. It performed excellently in all conditions.

In summer, spring and fall the large vents under the arms kept one cool and needless to say with three-ply gore-text I stayed quite dry all the time even in very heavy wind blown rain. As well the jacket is light and it compacts very well for storage. Both the under arm venting zippers and the detachable hood did not leak.

It is in winter that this jacket really excels. I found it a great match for ice and alpine climbing as the jacket is cut short. Because of this your waist is free so you can get at your rack and harness quite easily. Though it is only a shell jacket I still found that on its own it will keep you warm down to about 5~0c without a liner and I have worn it with only a heavy fleece down to –10c with out getting cold. I found that I could get my heavy down jacket under it along with a heavy fleece without it getting too stuffed so it is good to well below –40. At this low temperature it also stays quite supple and does not start to crinkle and crack like other jackets that I have owned.

The front zipper is protected by a double baffle flap secured by velcro which keeps even the strongest wind out. As well the detached hood is very well designed and one can close it right down without loosing ones field of view and it has a small peak to keep the rain or snow from falling into your face. It also fits well over and even under a helmet.

As for pockets it has lots the best is the outer breast pocket that is sewn in next to the zipper so one can keep something warm (like a camera) without having to burry it under your jacket. Saving you the trouble of unzipping you jacket to get at something.

I have last year’s model and there is only one difference and that is they have added a few buttons on the zipper baffle (which I do not like as they can freeze shut in cold conditions) and some fleece around the collar. The one little concern I have this jacked is the fully detachable hood. It is quite easy to loose it. They could improve this jacket by creating a storage pouch for it somewhere on the jacket.

All in all you get all the performance of the super high end jackets as a more reasonable price. Well worth the money.

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